THE STUDY
A new study showed that a stress management program can help people contain an illness.
The American Academy of Neurology published a study of 121 people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) who participated in a course of 16, 50 minute sessions over 5 – 6 months. Each person spent time with a therapist, exploring positive coping mechanisms – including relaxation techniques, healthful and social activities — along with elective sessions (such as fatigue, anxiety and pain management).
HOLDING STEADY
77% of the participants not only felt less stressed, but the study also showed a halt in the progression of the disease (meaning there were no new lesions or brain damage). This is encouraging news. We can, to some extent, play an active role in our well being when managing an illness.
However, once the training ended, so did each person’s practice with their new found skills. And with it, so ended the positive effects of the training. What happened?
GROUP HUG
While further studies are needed to explore the reversal, we could speculate.
Having support through a difficult period is, in many ways, its own good medicine. Losing a support system eliminates an important variable in managing illness: nurturance. Learning the skills wasn’t enough to sustain a continued wellness practice. The shared experience of community may have played a strong part in everyone’s stress reduction. Along with stress management skills, community AND continuity seem to make for a better balm.
Healing is impossible in loneliness; it is the opposite of loneliness. Conviviality is healing. To be healed we must come with all the other creatures to the feast of Creation. ~Wendell Berry
Learn more about the study at Science Daily
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